Only five out of the 24 banks in the country have migrated from the old magnetic stripe cards to the required Europay MasterCard Visa (EMV) technology-backed chip and pin card meaning that the rest are in clear violation of the December 31, 2009 deadline set by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can now reveal.
Skye Bank Plc, Intercontinental Bank Plc, Oceanic Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and UBA Plc have all successfully switched over to the chip and pin offering their customers improved security, bigger storage capacity and the ability to manage a larger number of transactions.
The five banks account for about 12 million of the over 30 million ATM cards in circulation in the country.
Though most of the other banks have upgraded their system to accept chip and pin, they are still fretting with the challenges of producing the cards and how to share the cost between the banks and the customers.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that the directive by the apex bank that banks in the country switch to the EMV cards followed upsurge in the cases of ATM-related fraud.
It would be recalled that the CBN had extended the technology migration date about four times: August 2008; April 1, 2009; June 30, 2009; and later December 31, 2009.
The shifts in the deadlines were to enable the banks prepare thoroughly for the expected cutover.
Signs that the cutover date would not be met showed as early as the Yuletide celebrations, when customers for the fear of ills associated with the old technology trooped to banking halls for withdrawals, ahead of the public holidays.
It would be recalled that the major reason ATM was introduced was to decongest banking halls while allowing account holders access to their money anytime and anywhere the machine is placed.
When all the banks cutover to EMV, fraud related cases would be reduced to the barest because the EMV chip technology speeds up cashless payment with credit and debit cards, making the process even more convenient, reliable and customer-friendly at the point of sale.